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Archives > Volume 8 Issue 23 - March 31, 2010 Catholic Church says reported U.S. cases of child sex abuse lowest since 2004...With clergy sex abuse scandals unfolding across Catholic Europe, a 2009 survey of the U.S. Catholic Church released Tuesday showed the lowest numbers of child victims, allegations and financial payouts since the annual survey began in 2004, shortly after the issue exploded in the United States. Washington Post story here 
The survey funded by the bishops but conducted by independent researchers relies mostly on data supplied by dioceses. It shows 398 new victims came forward in 2009 with "credible allegations of sexual abuse" of a minor, down each year from 889 in 2004. They named 286 priests and deacons, 45 percent of whom had not been named before. The survey is available online at http://www.usccb.org/ocyp/annual_report2009.shtml.
Last year, the U.S. church paid out $104 million, including $6.5 million for victims' therapy, $10.9 million for offenders (including therapy and living expenses) and $28.7 million in lawyers' fees. Some advocates for abuse survivors called the survey a sham, noting it relies on data provided by church bodies and participation was not required. Dioceses, eparchies and religious orders were polled, and 15 percent did not complete the survey. "Can anyone really think that the Catholic hierarchy's deeply rooted, centuries-old patterns of self-serving secrecy and deceit have suddenly been reversed and that heinous crimes once routinely hidden are now routinely revealed?" said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. There is passionate disagreement about how far the American church has come in the past decade on clergy sex abuse. Some believe the U.S. church has become a model for public schools and groups that work with children, pointing to the creation of reporting systems and abuse point-people at each diocese, payments and other outreach to victims, heightened screening at seminaries and criminal background checks of people who work in parishes with youth. "The Church's efforts to come to grips with these problems within the household of faith which have been more far-reaching than in any other institution or sector of society have led others to look to the Catholic Church for guidance on how to address what is, in fact, a global plague," papal biographer and commentator George Weigel wrote last weekend after Pope Benedict XVI issued an apology to sex abuse victims in Ireland. Others see only panels and paperwork and an internal culture that has not changed, never holding accountable bishops and church leaders who allowed offenders to continue their ministries. 
Meanwhile, the Vatican on Tuesday dismissed any notion that Pope Benedict XVI should take personal responsibility for the child sexual abuse scandal rocking the church, defending his management of such cases and vowing that the crisis would not interrupt what historians view as his conservative agenda for Catholics around the world. additional Washington Post story here
The defense of the pope, outlined in an interview Tuesday by the Reverend Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's official spokesman, came as the church hierarchy is launching a public relations blitz in the United States and Europe to ease Catholic anger and bolster the pope's image in sermons and interviews ahead of Easter Sunday. Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna, for instance, this week publicly countered accusations that Benedict turned a blind eye to abuse scandals when, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he headed a powerful Vatican office in charge of disciplinary action of the clergy between 1981 and 2005. Schoenborn said that Ratzinger in 1995 pressed for a special investigation into the former archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, for allegedly molesting young monks. That push, Schoenborn said, was blocked by aides to then-Pope John Paul II. In other developments:
9 Charged In Student's Bullying Death... 
Nine teenagers have been charged in connection with the suicide death of South Hadley High School student Phoebe Prince, 15, who took her life after she was bullied by other students at her school, Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said. The Boston Channel.com story here
Two male teens, ages 17 and 18, were also both charged with statutory rape. "The investigation revealed relentless activity directed at Phoebe," in the three months before her death, Scheibel said, until the situation became "intolerable" for the girl. Prince, a student at the school whose family had recently moved to the U.S. from Ireland, took her own life in January, authorities said, after she was bullied for three months both at school and online by other students. "It appears that Phoebe's death on January 14 followed a tortuous day for her in which she was subjected to verbal harassment and threatened physical abuse," Scheibel said. The district attorney said according to the investigation, which involved interviews with more than 50 people, on the day of her death Prince was harassed as she studied in the school library, and as she walked in the school hallways and later as she walked home. The bullying in the library was witnessed by a faculty member and other students but was not reported until after Prince's death, Scheibel said, adding that the bullying of Prince was "common knowledge" at the school. "On the day of her death, primarily three individuals one male and two females were involved in this assaultive behavior, which appears to have been motivated by the group's displeasure with Phoebe's brief dating relationship with a male student which had ended some six weeks previous," Scheibel said. "Their conduct far exceeded the limits of normal teenage relationship-related quarrels," Scheibel said. Six teens and three juveniles were charged in connection with the case, the charges including criminal harassment, violation of civil rights and disturbing a school assembly. Meanwhile, more students have been removed from the Massachusetts school in the investigation of the alleged bullying campaign against Prince, a school official said Tuesday. CNN story here In another case, police are investigating whether cyberbullies contributed to the suicide of a teen in the Long Island, New York town of West Islip. CBS story here The nasty messages continued to show up online even after her death, reports CBS News Correspondent Jeff Glor. Soccer star Alexis Pilkington, 17, took her own life March 21 following vicious taunts on social networking sites which persisted postmortem on Internet tribute pages, worsening the grief of her family and friends. See eGuide/bullying for more information on bullying. In other news... 
Researchers believe technology could be used to determine a computer typist's age, sex and culture within 10 keystrokes by monitoring their speed and rhythm. Telegraph story here The murder of Ashleigh Hall, a teenager from Darlington, last year by a predator she met on Facebook has raised fresh calls in Britain for extra security to protect young people on the internet. Professor Roy Maxion, associate professor at Newcastle University, has been carrying out the research in America. Former Northumbria Police detective chief inspector Phil Butler believes the technology could be useful in tracking down online fraudsters and pedophiles. Mr. Butler, who heads Newcastle University's Cybercrime and Computer Security department, said: ''Roy's research has the potential to be a fantastic tool to aid intelligence gathering for crime fighting agencies, in particular serious and organized crime and for those tracking down pedophiles. If children are talking to each other on Windows Live or MSN Messenger, we are looking at ways of providing the chat room moderators with the technology to be able to see whether an adult is on there by the way they type.'' Mr. Butler said the technology could also be used to prevent convicted sex offenders committing further crimes.
Oklahoma authorities are determining whether two bodies found Monday are those of a murder suspect and his wife's missing 7-year-old daughter, a spokeswoman for investigators said. CNN story here The bodies and a car authorities said was used in the kidnapping of the girl were found in a heavily wooded area in Norman, outside Oklahoma City, said Jessica Brown, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation. Lester Williams Hobbs, 46, was charged in the death of his estranged wife, Tonya, and the kidnapping of her daughter, Aja Daniell Johnson. Hobbs and the girl have been missing since January. For more on this story, see vol8_iss10.
Investigators in South Carolina said that a woman was running a strip club for underage boys out of her mobile home that was complete with a stripper's pole and lap dances. WXII story here The Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office said 27-year-old Gwendolyn Lowery stripped and danced using the pole in the middle of her living room. Investigators said Lowery's customers ranged from 12- to 19-years-old. Deputies said they found alcohol and a price list for various services including lap dances for $5. The sheriff's office said when deputies went into the home, there were several boys sitting around the pole. Lowery is charged with a liquor law violation and several counts of contributing to the delinquency of minors. Investigators said more arrests and other charges are possible.
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